


Aftermath of an Announcement

by HerenorThereNearnorFar



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 01:27:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3709729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerenorThereNearnorFar/pseuds/HerenorThereNearnorFar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose Quartz has a boyfriend and a terrible, wonderful plan. As of an hour ago her nearest and dearest know about the former.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath of an Announcement

**Author's Note:**

> Subscribes heavily to the "Steven was not just a happy accident" theory. Characterization might be a bit off, I'm still trying to pin it down. Rose especially; loving, patient, kind, and very dangerous is a tricky combination. Started out with the intention of being Pearl/Rose but I'm not sure how much of that comes through. Also the tenses change a third of the way through, I apologize.

Amethyst is a hundred feet from shore by the time Rose gets to her. Beach City is shallow at this particular point, sand bars making a path to walk on, and even then Rose can barely keep her head above the water. Amethyst is just floating; face down. It would be worrying if she had to breathe. She had run off as soon as Rose had made the fateful statement. Garnet and Pearl had stood, shell shocked but polite, for a few more minutes, until Rose awkwardly gave them leave to go, but Amethyst had been off almost before she had stopped talking. Rose had to send Greg away so she could go after the young Gem. Honestly, it wasn't supposed to be this bad. They were supposed to be upset, yes, Rose knew her friends, but they weren't supposed to act like the world had collapsed. 

Rose cautiously rolls Amethyst onto her back. She doesn't fight it but she does tense like she's considering making another run for it. 

The two stare at each other.

Rose smiles weakly. "You aren't happy, I guess?"

Amethyst crosses her arms, kicks at the water. "How'd you figure out?"

Rose exhales, slouches a little and instantly regrets it as her mouth fills with sea water. As she cringes and tries to spit out seawater her reply is a little muffled, "Intuition."

"If you were that smart you wouldn't be running off with some long haired human." Amethyst snorts. She always was far less formal then the others. Even a few thousand years on Earth haven't smoothed the Homeworld hierarchies and courtesies from the rest of them but Amethyst has none of that to fall back on. It's refreshing. 

Of course there are more important things to focus on now. "I'm not running away with him." Rose sighs. 

"You'd say that."

"Amethyst. I'm not running away with him. There will be no ladders outside my window, if it had a window. I'll stay right here in Beach City. I promise."

A purple nose wrinkles in frustration. "Well he's not going to stay here. You know humans. They have to rush everywhere. And he wants to be a musician. He'll leave and you'll probably go with him."

"No, he's planning on remaining here. He promised." Rose lays on her back and lets the tides take her as well, tries not to sound like a human adolescent blinded by love in one of the televisions shows Amethyst watches sometimes. There is silence for a moment.

Then there us a sniff from the little fluff of hair next to her. (It can be disconcerting how much Amethyst resembles a human child. Although useful when someone other than Rose needs to interact with the local people.) "You'll leave anyway. Even when he was just the weird Music Man you paid way too much attention to him. "

Rose bites her lip. Frustration doesn't come easily to her but Amethyst's stubbornness could move a brick wall to anger. It can make a gem a teensy annoyed, at the least. "It was just friendliness. And trying to prevent Garnet from breaking him. Amethyst, we can have this conversation for hours or you can believe me."

"Hmph."

"Amethyst. I swear, Greg isn't going to take me away or distract me from my duties." She doesn't mention her other plan, the one that is barely a seed in her mind but that had sprung up almost the second she had seen him, sweet and trusting, and had imagined being with him, like humans were, and having the things humans sometimes had. A few calculations later and now she couldn't stop thinking about the possibilities. But that... highly theoretical outcome wouldn't technically be Greg's fault so it doesn't count. "I'm allowed to love and I'm old enough to know how to handle it without ruining the rest of my life."

"The way everyone tells it you decided to leave almost everyone you knew and your entire civilization because you liked a hunk of rock. You've left people before for Earth; you could leave us for an Earth person." Amethyst argues sullenly.

She sighs. "That was... different. Look, I'm not leaving, with Greg, and I won't get distracted. I thought you'd be happy Amethyst. You liked him!"

The voice from next to her is rough. "Yeah, when he was just some goof you picked up off the beach. He was funny. But he isn't one of us and he shouldn't be one of us. And I still think you'll run away with him."

Rose rights herself and when her toes are touching the sand again she leans over Amethyst. "I swear on my sword and shield I won't run off to form a two person band with Greg. Or at the very least we'll take you if we do." 

It's a serious vow, even Amethyst knows it. Her face softens. "Okay. I call drums."

"You know my musical talents." Rose jokes. "Come on, let's go back to shore."

Amethyst shakes her head, her short, fine hair fanning out even more. "I'll stay out here for a while."

Rose smiles but as she pivots to go back to the shore it fades. She closes her eyes and tries to ignore that little sprout of a plan, unfurling every second she thinks about Greg and the world she has chosen. The grin makes a surprise comeback and Rose turns back around and, after splashing some water at Amethyst, who shrieks with joy, she tucks the plan away from the sun. It doesn't bear thinking about now, though it's one of those things you can't get out of your head. 

 

After Amethyst she went to Pearl. She wasn't hard to find, the clangs of her sword hitting something echoes through the transdimensional halls of the temple. Impressive really, given the size of the place. Rose approached carefully, knowing from experience not to startle a duelling warrior. When Pearl finally slashed her opponent (A hologram of herself, which Rose always found a little strange, though of course it was Pearl’s choice.) through the chest and took a step back, Rose drew herself together and stepped forward. 

"Pearl?"

With a start the gem in question turned to look at her. "Rose." Pearl smiled for a second then scowled, tucking a wisp of her hair back. "What is it? Shouldn't you be with your... Greg?"

The bite in her tone hurt but Rose almost took more offence at the dismissiveness. Pearl didn't like upsets to her world and Rose's announcement of her relationship with Greg a few hours ago was going to leave her a bit fragile, Rose had known that. She understood, or at least tried to, and she usually attempted to give Pearl the space and time she needed to adapt and cope with new developments. But there wasn't any call to be so offhand about the poor man.

"He left. I wanted to talk to you. Is that all right or should I leave?" 

"I... you can stay." Pearl tugged at the film that draped over her slight shoulders, rasping it between her fingers once or twice to ground herself, before smoothing her clothes out primly. It was a little habit, one that Rose usually liked because it was so Pearl, but now it just served as a reminder of how upset she was. 

Rose walked forward and sat on the steps. “Is something wrong?"

Pearl didn't look at her, instead taking a fencing stance and thrusting at the thin air where her hologram had stood a few minutes ago. "No, no, everything is fine. I trust your decisions wholeheartedly." Somehow her voice managed to communicate the exact opposite.

"And I trust your judgement." Rose said gently. "And I want to hear your concerns."

The sword clattered to the floor and Pearl crossed her arms in front of her, still facing away from Rose. But even without a view of her face it was easy to imagine her expression as she blurted, "I don't know why you do this to yourself!"

Rose restrained herself from getting up and gathering Pearl in a hug. She wouldn't appreciate it, not now. Instead she stayed quiet and let her continue.

And she did continue, voice fluttery and painfully confused. "I mean, why do you have to hurt yourself like this? You care so much and it's one of the things I always admired about you but getting this involved, it's only going to end badly. He'll die, Rose! A blink of an eye and he'll be gone." 

"I know."

"Then why? Are we not enough for you?"

Rose shook her head and weighed her words carefully. "No. I still love you all, and this doesn't diminish that. But I care about Greg as well. And I wasn't going to deny myself that love out of fear. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it and enjoy the moment in the meantime."

"I'm not jealous." Pearl insisted and Rose knew she probably wasn't. Greg, new and short lived, didn't really register to Pearl, who took so long to warm up to people. "I'm worried about you."

Rose smiled sadly and stopped calculating. She could be honest with Pearl, most of the time. She could be mostly honest now. "I appreciate that. Pearl you said you trusted me, so trust me here. I understand the consequences of what I'm doing and I'm making this choice in full knowledge of them."

Pearl crossed the distance between them with her usual grace and perched on the steps, head bowed. "I always trust you."

Rose lifted her hand and carefully placed it over Pearl's, giving her enough time to move it away if she wanted. She didn't. "Thank you." Rose said and when Pearl didn't move or respond she stood. "I'm sorry I interrupted your training. Shall I go?"

It took Pearl a moment to respond with a gracious, "You're always welcome." and Rose took that as a sign it would be better for her to leave. She did still have to speak to Garnet. 

As she turned to go she heard she metal on marble swish of Pearl picking up her sword and then a delicate interjection. "I know this is going to sound terribly like Amethyst." Pearl said, and Rose decided that trying to smooth out her friends’ occasional disdain for each other could wait for now but really needed to be addressed later. "But promise you won't leave us?"

"Of course, I promise." Rose said, the half-lie heavy on her tongue. 

Pearl gave a contented hum and Rose left her.

 

  

It turned out Garnet was waiting for her, sitting outside the temple doors, as silent as the in between bits of space where there is nothing but the shiver of stars and the hum of the universe's birth for company. Greg had put her in a poetic mood, Rose thought, smiling despite herself.

After going over to Garnet, Rose sat down with her and waited for her to speak.

Then Garnet said unto her, "You have to get rid of him."

She sighed heavily. "No. And Garnet, please don't do anything to him either."

"Please?" And there was something wary and afraid there, something that Rose had heard very little before in her solid lieutenant . It was enough to make her pull back the wave of reassurances she was that were going to fall out of her lips, all the things she had told Garnet and Amethyst.

"Did you see something?"

This was not like space, there was still the swoosh of the ocean and the huff of their constructs' breath, but Rose couldn't help but think that the infinity of Garnet's pause was the closest she had felt to the cold emptiness of the cosmos in millennia. She had never liked it much. Earth was so much more alive, and so much brighter in that vitality than the stars.

Finally Garnet spoke. "No..... maybe. We're not sure."

The plurals weren't always a bad sign but they certainly didn't signal simplicity. Ruby and Sapphire could handle armies as a single force, the idea that a boyfriend made them think as two instead of one almost made Rose uneasy. Almost made her question her choices. But not quite. 

Rose shook her head, curls bouncing. This day, though wonderful, was getting exhausting; she was beginning to envy humans the ability to sleep. "Tell me."

That made Garnet's lips twitch. "Is that an order?"

"Yes." Rose said more sharply than she meant. Modulating her voice back down to a gentler volume she continued, "This is something I want absolutes on."

"There never are any." Garnet exhaled. "I saw a possibility. Something terrible. I saw you die."

Her hands clenched and her mind raced, wondering if it was what she thought it was, if Garnet was going to try to stop her. "Impossible."

"It was not normal." Garnet admitted. "There may have been a- a child."

It would work then. Rose delighted. It could work, if she needed it too and wanted it to. If she could bring herself to do it, to do that, to sweet, funny, loving Greg and her Gems. If she could imagine a child like that and all they would go through and all the wonders they would see and still act. "I see."

It was hard to tell through the shades but she thought Garnet was looking at her oddly. At the very least there was some intense staring going on. "You're not surprised."

Rose stood. "Garnet, I don't want this ever spoken of again. Just trust me." she repeated what she has said to the other two. "I know what I'm doing."

Garnet tilted her head to the side, examining, perhaps looking into the futures given to her. She bowed her head. "I have followed you into horrors, I have followed you to near death, many times. I admire you and respect you and I will undoubtedly follow you again, to the ends of the earth if needed. But I am not sure I trust you." 

Rose swallowed down the lump in her throat. "I understand. Thank you."

"There is nothing to thank me for. Tell your man of music I apologize for dropping him earlier." With that, Garnet strode to the temple door and held out her hands, disappearing into her rooms. 

It hurt, Rose thought. She had always known, as leaders do, that while one must trust their generals their generals must not necessarily trust them. Usually she had Pearl, her clever, loyal right hand, but this was possibly the one thing she couldn't talk to her about. And here she was, with an idea that could destroy everything but would take her first, and she was alone. 

Amethyst was in the ocean, or maybe in town by now, running around and making the sort of mild mischiefs that hadn't been banned to her already. Pearl was fencing or cooling down and sorting her things. Garnet was probably meditating with the intent of going out and punching things later. Rose was halfway to her gardening supplies when she smiled, then laughed suddenly. 

Perhaps not so alone.

She went to find Greg, to smile and giggle and be something other than a leader and rock. Regardless of the future, she could love him now. Perhaps after that she could come home and kiss Pearl, hug Amethyst, win back over Garnet, and tear down the fence. Rose had years with him no matter what, she could, she would, make the best of them.


End file.
